The Kremlin said it had no information on a US military transport plane landed at Moscow’s Vnukovo airport earlier today, data from the flight tracking service Flightradar24 showed.
The large Boeing Globemaster had flown direct from Riga, in Latvia, and landed in Moscow at around 7am GMT, Reuters reports. The news agency was unable to verify whether it carried any cargo or passengers.
The aircraft had arrived in Riga on 23 August from the US Camp Springs airbase near Washington DC, data from Flightradar24 showed.
The last direct flight of a US registered jet to Russia from Europe took place in January this year, carrying special envoys Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner for peace talks with Vladimir Putin on Ukraine.
The Kremlin said last week that there was no information yet on another visit to Moscow by Kushner and Witkoff, as talks between the US and Russia on Ukraine have largely stalled amid the war in Iran.
Despite reports over poor conditions on board the US Navy aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln, which will dock in Thailand next week following a period of more than 200 consecutive days of deployment, Donald Trump claimed the ship was “beautifully maintained”.
Earlier this month, the president berated Kristen Holmes, a CNN reporter, insisting that she “be quiet” and describing the reporting of poor conditions on board as fake news.
“The Lincoln has been out there for a period of time – a good period of time – but over the years, we’ve had them out there much longer,” Trump said, describing an exchange with a veteran, whom he did not name.
“He happened to be an admiral, retired. He said, ‘I’ve been on ships that are out there much longer than that, sir. And I know people on the Lincoln, they say it’s beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.’ And other people went out and they found out that to be true,” said Trump.
USS Abraham Lincoln to dock in Thailand next week
The US Navy aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln will dock in Thailand next week, following a prolonged deployment in the Middle East during the Iran war, a Thai official said on Tuesday.
The Lincoln, which left the Middle East on Saturday, has not make a port call in more than 200 days, setting a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea, according to Democrats, amid reports of concerns about mental health and deteriorating conditions aboard.
The ship, which has roughly 5,000 sailors and marines aboard, will be in Thailand for “rest and recreation after their long sea journey,” the official said, asking not to be named. A Thai Navy spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an interview last week, the wife of a sailor onboard the USS Lincoln told the Guardian as the deployment has stretched on and on, she has noticed a change in her husband’s messages. “There’s less hope in the way he talks and less positive things that he has to say,” she said.
“He’s just exhausted,” she added. “It’s a long, long deployment and it takes a toll.”
Reports from families of crew members published in the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes military newspapers described food and water shortages, disrupted mail services, plumbing problems, low morale and worsening mental health, prompting Democratic lawmakers to demand answers from the Pentagon.
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Republican and Democratic politicians have called on the Trump administration to bar American citizens and businesses from supporting Chinese and Russian civilian intelligence and security agencies, Reuters reports.
Congress approved a law in 2018 banning Americans from providing support to foreign military intelligence agencies but leaving the door open to such aid for similar civilian-led organisations. In 2019, Reuters revealed the United Arab Emirates had hired over a dozen former US intelligence operatives to hack dissidents, journalists, and Americans.
Rules implementing a 2022 congressional measure to bolster controls have not yet been finalised, leaving “glaring loopholes that harm US national security and foreign policy interests,” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden and Republican John Cornyn wrote in a letter addressed to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Opening summary
Canada said it will announce its response to Donald Trump’s new tariffs, as the neighbours that used to be close allies spiral into a trade war.
Canadian PM Mark Carney said on Monday that while American negotiators saw the French language in Canada as an “irritant … in Quebec, these are rights,” days after receiving widespread praise from political leaders for rejecting a US trade proposal that many perceived as weakening the country’s Francophone culture.
The prime minister’s remarks came hours after Trump showed little interest in retreating from the spat, posting on social media that Canada had been “ripping off the United States of America for years” and threatening a swath of new, economically devastating tariffs on cars and trucks.
Carney instructed his negotiators to walk away from trade talks last week. Tariffs on an array of Canadian products took effect over the weekend, affecting around 5% of Canada’s exports to the US, and Canada said it will retaliate in early September.
Quebec’s premier, Christine Fréchette, said Carney had made the right decision in walking away from talks that looked to cross a “red line” for Francophones. On Monday, Trump’s top trade representative, Jamieson Greer, called reports that French language protections were up for debate a “a funny fake story”.
“That is not true,” Greer told CNBC. “I like the Quebecois and I like that they speak French.”
Also in US news today:
Darline Graham and Ralph Norman face South Carolina voters yet again in a special Republican primary runoff to replace the late Lindsey Graham in the Senate, one month after his sudden death. Darline Graham is a political newcomer now serving as interim replacement for her brother. She has struggled to define herself to voters who routinely backed her brother. Norman has stressed his experience servicing in state and federal office.
Tulsa businessman Mike Mazzei is hoping to win a hotly contested Republican primary runoff for Oklahoma governor against state Attorney General Gentner Drummond. Trump has endorsed Mazzei and sharply attacked Drummond. The winner will face Oklahoma House Minority Leader Cyndi Munson in a vote to be governor of the deeply conservative state.
The Supreme Court is siding with the Trump administration in a case over Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, though it remains unclear how much can be implemented before the fast-approaching midterm elections. The US Postal Service laid out its plan for implementing the order last week, but time is running short to impose major changes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Trump had congratulated Ukraine on its independence day. The message that Zelenskyy shared on X read: “Let us seize this moment to end the conflict and build a durable, lasting peace that unleashes the tremendous potential of Ukraine for generations to come.” Zelenskyy said on Sunday that his country is receiving substantially fewer Patriot defence systems, even as Russian ballistic attacks are increasing.
